An Elder Pilgrim's Reflections

'It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and pity  it was he who redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried  them all the days of old." (from Isaiah 63:7-9) The week of December 13, 2025, was one filled with tragedy and violence . The tragedy and violence began when a gunman entered Brown University and began firing on students taking their final exams resulting in two student deaths, and nine seriously wounded. The motivation of the shooting at Brown University seemed to be related to a professor at M.I.T. As the weekend progressed, two gunmen attacked Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, resulting in 15 deaths with numerous wounded.  Occurring on first night of Hanukkah, the probable motivated was anti-Semitism The most tragic event, for me as a fan of “All In The Family”, was the murder of Rob Rainer and his wife by their son. With this difficult week of tragic events and senseless violence, I began searching the Scriptures f...

Mt. Mansfield, Underhill, VT They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the  Lord      as the waters cover the sea.   (from Isaiah 11:1-10) At 1:30pm on October 26, 2018, an ordinary church service began in The Hague, Netherlands.  The worship service lasted until January 30, 2019. One continuous worship service for 96 days. Dutch law states that no legal action can interfere with or disrupt a religious service.   Sheltered within the walls of Bethel Church was an Armenian family — the Tamrazyans — who, after living in the Netherlands for 9 years under asylum claims, after winning their case in court twice, recently had their case overturned and were set to be deported, despite credible death threats in their home country.  So our siblings in Christ at Bethel Church in The Hague did what Christians are uniquely equipped to do — they started worshipping and they just…didn...

John the Baptist From    Matthew 11:2-11 December is full of cozy things—twinkling lights, Christmas trees, cookies, and carols.  But then John the Baptist shouting, “You brood of vipers! Repent! The kingdom of heaven is near!”  Repent! God's kingdom is coming! “Something huge is happening!!! Repent and be baptized!!!” Crowds see John emerging from the wilderness, hear his yelling and repent and are baptized by him preparing for the coming kingdom of heaven.  Baptism in the Jordan River is a reminder of Israel’s entering the promised land. John’s presence and wake-up call message from the wilderness’s silence is an urgent, thundering cry “repent and be baptized!! “ Get Baptized! God's kingdom is coming! Prepare yourself with genuine self-examination and transformation for a new beginning!  You will need a true inner change shown through actions, not just words. John tells-off religious leaders, those brood of vipers who misuse power, reminding eve...

  "All shall be well,  and all shall be well,  and all manner of thing shall be well," Julian of Norwich   (1342-1416+) In the fourteenth century, a woman named Julian was living the solitary life of an anchoress. An anchoress was a woman vowed to chastity and stability of abode. She was enclosed in a cell until her death. Her life’s purpose being contemplation and unceasing prayer focused on God. Her cell was one hundred square feet with three windows for viewing the sacrament and taking communion.  There Julian lived and prayed, ate her meals and slept, worked at some simple task such as needlework, meditated on her revelations and wrote her book for the next twenty, thirty, perhaps forty years, never leaving the cell. At age 30 she was struck with severe illness, nearly dying. A priest called to her bedside to administer the last rites, held up a crucifix before her face. Suddenly, she felt all pain cease. During the illness, she received 1...

Preti, Mattia, 1613-1699 Therefore you also must be ready,  for the Son of Man is coming  at an hour you do not expect. (from Matthew 24:36-44 ) Never, perhaps, has this Advent gospel been timelier. “Watch!” Jesus says in the closing to his apocalyptic warning. It's timely as our North American culture becomes increasingly secular and “mainline” churches are shrinking, being sold for condos and housing, or abandoned. But even where the church is thriving—in many parts of Asia and Africa, for instance—violence that denies the peace of Christ, along with the suppression of Christian faith, is real.  Whatever the situation Jesus tells us to “stay awake”—to keep eyes, hearts, hands, and minds on the hope of his coming. Since we don’t know when “the day of the Lord” is coming we need to keep watching, working, and living by grace. My way of working and watching in hope is through feeding those who are hungry. Each Sunday, before the beginning of our worship, I see pe...